New writer Chris Rydberg takes a look at the N-Gage in 2003, from announcement to the Christmas sales, and everything in between. Does the N-Gage's checkered past equal a short-lived or non-existent future?
The N-Gage is being dropped from 450 of the GameStop stores in the USA according to this Games Industry article. Although GameStop is not compeletely getting rid of the N-gage the device has largely been considered a failure and this has lead to speculation that Nokia will unveil an N-Gage 2 at the E3 show in May. Perhaps this is also the reason why the N-Gage is being sold off cheap in the UK?
Ewan Spence has updated Same Game, the simple to pick up puzzle game. Now with added Menus and Coloured balls (thanks to the updated OPL runtime. Go download it now.
Jim goes hunting for an N-Gage, and finds them hard to track down. Is this because the new lower UK pricing has hit the sweet spot for consumers? We think it might just be so, and you can follow Jim's trail here.
Is Red Faction any good? The first person shooter is an established genre on the home consoles, does the N-Gage's first attempt at this style work? Sometimes, thinks Ewan, in his review.
Nokia have revised their N-Gage release schedule, pushing Sega Rally back to April and Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer to March. Plus there is still no sign of Taito Memories. A possible explanation of why there is nothing to be launched January & February is that Nokia are increasing the security of their copy protection. The UK N-Gage release dates look as follows:
eBooks are one of the unsung applications for Smartphones - here's the All About Symbian / N-Gage Guide to eBooks, showing you what eBooks are, what applications you can use to read them, and (more importantly) where to get them.
Our new addition to the team, Jim Hughes, takes a look at Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc and finds it "decidedly chirpy." Find out if you agree with him in his review...
After weeks of hints, Nokia and Electronic Arts have officially announced that there will be a version of the ever popular "Sims" game on the N-Gage. The Sims allow you to take control and manage a character in an imaginary world. No mention of whether the N-Gage Arena will be supported, but it does seem an obvious thing to include. Release is penciled in for mid 2004.
The next two Nokia N-Gage Games (Marceille Desailly Pro Soccer and Sega Rally) are scheduled for release on Feb 16th. Thanks to Allack for the news. Nothing about Taito Memories though.
Could this be the game that N-Gage Users have been waiting for? One that is really really worth hunting for? Read Ewan's Review of Fifa 2004 to find out.
Are Nokia pushing N-Gage users towards Software Piracy? There's a simple solution to the low battery life on the N-Gage,and the continual griping of having to change the MMC Game Card, but it's not something that makes easy reading for the industry.
